Open Meeting Law violation by Assembly alleged

The Barnstable County Charter has never contained a procedure for recalling elected officials, and now it makes no reference to recall whatsoever.

Patriot Staff

The Barnstable County Charter has never contained a procedure for recalling elected officials, and now it makes no reference to recall whatsoever.

The original bill filed for a county charter in 1988 does contain sections detailing recall procedures for elected officials. That language did not survive to the special law enacted by the Legislature later that year, however, except a single reference in the section header.

Late last year, West Barnstable resident Ron Beaty questioned why there was a single reference to recall without any supporting language.

In response to that query, Assembly Clerk Janice O’Connell received an opinion from county counsel Robert Troy indicating that the single reference to “recall” could be removed, as it has no meaning within the charter itself. Tory termed the removal as clerical in nature, which would not require a specific charter amendment in order to delete it.

The online version of the county charter has already been amended to remove the word “recall” from the Section 7 title. O’Connell drafted a memo to the Assembly, county commissioners and county administrator to that effect Jan. 7.

Beaty is objecting to both the deletion and the manner in which it was handled. He filed an Open Meeting Law Complaint with the Assembly on Jan. 7 detailing “the unconventional process” used to remove the word.

In an email to the Patriot, Beaty also indicated that he plans to initiate a citizen referendum, as allowed by the charter, to insert recall provisions.